Gold Rush rally to win 5-2 at Prairie View A&M
February 12, 2011

Results:  Men    Women

     PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas — Hassan Abbas defeated Ronald Chidzikwe 6-3, 7-5 at No. 2 singles Saturday to clinch Xavier University of Louisiana's come-from-behind 5-2 men's tennis victory over Prairie View A&M.
     Prairie View's women defeated Xavier 6-1.
     The Gold Rush (5-1), ranked 14th in the NAIA, rallied from a 2-0 deficit to defeat the NCAA Division I Panthers, the defending Southwestern Athletic Conference champion. Xavier won five consecutive singles matches after losing the doubles point and defaulting at No. 6 singles.
     Zach Taylor, Steffen Giles-Osborn, Amir Rahbar and Sean Richardson were the other singles winners. Richardson gave XU its first lead in the dual when he defeated Jamaal James 6-0, 6-0 at No. 5.
     It was the fifth consecutive victory for XU's men since an opening loss to Kennesaw State. The Gold Rush are 11-0 in February during the last two seasons.
     XU's men have 21 victories against NCAA Division I opponents during the last nine seasons. They're 4-0 against Prairie View in the last five years.
     Xavier's 22nd-ranked women (2-3) didn't score after winning the doubles point. The Gold Nuggets' Carmen Nelson and Amber Brown defeated Lerato Ndlovu and Brittany Harrell 8-6, and sisters Melissa and Nicole DeLoach won by the same score against Raven Lewis and Alix Thomas.
     Both Xavier teams will play at Nicholls State at 1 p.m. Sunday.